


Distraction

by halfpastmonsoon



Category: Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Surprise Kissing, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfpastmonsoon/pseuds/halfpastmonsoon
Summary: Orr's tinkering has been driving Yossarian insane for a while.





	Distraction

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I only ever posted this in my Catch-22 server but I decided I might as well put it here

Orr was kneeling in front of the stove and very slowly picking it apart, waiting for Yossarian to come back and yell at him for tinkering all the time, like he always did. He was humming quietly to himself and smiling at nothing in particular, but he was still attentive and extremely precise. That's how it's always been, really, but now he spent most of his time working on the stove and many other small mechanisms around the tent, so his movements had become automatic.

He enjoyed tinkering to begin with, but remembering he was doing it all for Yossarian's sake made the experience even better. He knew, deep down, that he would never be able to get his tentmate to fly with him and be part of his escape plan (though he wasn't going to stop trying), so the least he could do for him was to make sure the tent would be the most comfortable and warm one around.  
Orr's smile widened. The thought of escaping sent a chill down his spine. He knew he's close, and soon he could be absolutely sure he's going to succeed. It was so exciting he had to stop what he was doing and wipe his mouth. His small body shook slightly and he went back to work, still grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

The fantastic thing was that there was pretty much almost nothing holding him back. No sentimental value or anything, as far as he was concerned he was simply going to escape from the hell that was war, and not look behind once. Of course, he was going to leave some good people here, but he couldn't afford to care too much about anyone, considering they could die at any moment anyway. And everyone just thought of him as the one person who was weirder than Yossarian. It wasn't worth it. Then again...

He pondered on that thought for a while. There was, actually, one thing that he grew attached to, and that was, in fact, what kept him working so hard all these months, and what frustrated him endlessly. What he held dear in spite of the circumstances. He held one hand up to his chest for a few seconds. Interesting. His heart sure was beating a bit faster, and it was definitely because-

”Christ, you're still working on that?”

His train of thought was interrupted by the return of the subject of his current daydream. Orr stared at Yossarian, who had just entered the tent and was walking towards his bed, not even looking in Orr's direction. That was probably for the better,. His reactions to seeing the stove tended to be kind of terrifying, and he would often claim the sight of Orr working makes him anxious. Truth be told, Orr occassionally felt bad about that, and about making Yossarian want to stab him on a regular basis, but he couldn't risk it, he had to keep working to get everything done as soon as possible.

”I'm almost done,” he claimed cheerfully, watching Yossarian sit on the bed and hide his face in his hands.  
„No, you're not. I can see you barely started,” he groaned, finally looking in Orr's direction. „You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?” to which Orr giggled and shook his head.

His hand wasn't on his chest anymore, but he could still feel that his heart was pounding fast, possibly from how suddenly Yossarian entered the tent, or, still, from the excitement. He couldn't be entirely sure, but it wasn't a bad feeling, so he simply shrugged and went back to work, humming again, the neat rows of tiny pieces growing around him.  
He glanced at his tentmate again, in an attempt to figure out what mood he was in that day. Not a particularly good one, it seemed, and he could only guess why. Sometimes he managed to say just the thing that would freak Yossarian out, as if he read his mind, and it was always entertaining to watch, but he preferred to be quiet this time. Relatively quiet, that is, considering the humming and occassional giggling, which he didn't really control.  
Yossarian sighed.

”How do you even do that?” this time it was his question that took Orr off-guard and not the other way around. He tilted his head and smiled at him curiously. „How can you just...do this all day? Don't you get bored? Or distracted?”  
Orr shook his head and stared at the valve again. „I like doing it. There's nothing else I wanna do more. That's all. I don't think anything could distract me.”  
Yossarian raised an eyebrow and rested his head on his hand. „Sometimes I worry about you. That can't be healthy. It's definitely not healthy for me to watch you do this. It's making my skin crawl.”  
Orr laughed. From the corner of his eye he could see a small smile on Yossarian's face too, just for a split second, before it started looking exhausted again.

"I'll be fine, promise. And I have to finish fixing it as soon as possible, anyway.”  
"Why, what's the hurry?”  
Orr gulped. Oh, how he wished he could tell him, and share the excitement him, and get him, just him, out of there. But there were many reasons why he couldn't, unfortunately, and at times like these he wished he could just leave, without thinking of the other at all. He was making things harder for himself, wasn't he?  
"The sooner I get it done, the sooner I'll stop for good,” he explained patiently, assuming that maybe that reasoning will speak to him. He glanced at Yossarian again to check his reaction. Yossarian shook his head, smiling.  
"No, you bastard, I know you too well. When you're done with this one, you will find another thing to torture my nerves with. It's useless.”  
"I promise it's the last one,” Orr swore solemnly, but he ruined the legitimacy of his words by snickering wildly, covering his mouth with one hand. „There's nothing else I've got. When it's fixed, we won't need anything else anyway.”

Yossarian fell silent for a while as Orr kept working, tirelessly, and with great dedication, picking apart his godforsaken stove, piece after piece after piece. Yossarian's eyes followed the movements of his hands torturedly.  
"Can't you at least take a break for today? I've got a headache.”  
"Why?”  
"Why what?”  
"Why do you have a headache?”  
"How should I know? Probably because they raised the number of missions again,” he groaned, remembering that. At this rate, he would never be free. And he would never succeed at getting McWatt to take him to Switzerland, or Sweden, or any neutral ground, like he's been dreaming for so long now.  
"You know,” Orr replied, „you should fly with me next time.” Not changing the expression of his face from terrifying amusement, he refused to look Yossarian's way, still entirely focused on the stove. Yossarian fell silent and stared his way again, planning his murder, Orr assumed, based on the chills he felt going down his spine.  
"Not as long as you keep crashing,” he informed, „and messing with this damn thing.”

Orr resisted the urge to look at him, and instead started giggling, his tiny body shook again, but his hands were somehow stabilised and kept working. Boy, this entire situation sure would be comedic to any random bystander, someone who wasn't Orr and didn't know all the conflicting emotions rushing through his heart and always, always eventually resulting in laughter.  
He felt Yossarian the vibrations from getting up from the bed, but didn't think much of it. Maybe he'd had enough and wanted to get alcohol or fresh air. He started humming again. It was just as subconscious as all his actions seemed to be. Now that he thought about it, there really was nothing that could distract him, probably. He did most things without thinking, anyway, it was as natural as breathing at this point.

What interrupted him was a warm breath tickling his ear and some pressure on his cheek. He shivered but he couldn't move, instead attempting to look in that direction without moving his head.  
He heard a snicker, which was unusually, as most of those usually came from him. Yossarian scooted over, squatting next to him, careful not to touch anything.

"You were wrong,” he informed Orr in between wheezes of laughter, "you can get distracted after all.”

Orr burst out laughing and subconsciously rested his head on Yossarian's shoulder, which was close and welcoming and it appeared to not mind. Orr would rather die than say the embarrassing line that came to his head instantly, and would confirm that Yossarian is just about the only thing that could ever be more interesting or enjoyable than tinkering.  
"Hey,” Yossarian whispered into his wavy mass of hair, which was tickling his nose and lips while Orr was still giggling against his shoulder, "if I do this again, will you take a break for today? I'm worried about your eyesight and my sanity with all these small parts lying around.”

Orr stopped giggling, which happened very rarely, and usually in his sleep. He got his head off Yossarian's shoulder and instead looked at his face, which was just a bit flushed, and smiling at him gently. He asked himself, deep down in his heart, if he wants to have one more memory attaching him to someone he might lose forever in a few days. The answer, which came to him in an instant, was a definite, loud yes, since in that instant he realised with certainty that he won't lose him, that he's absolutely sure they will meet again after he succeeds to escape and Yossarian finds out. He was convinced, based on an instinct that never failed him yet, that he would follow him out of there, and all the signals Orr had been sending him for months won't go to waste after all. At that thought, he smiled widely again, and nodded enthusiastically, which in turn made Yossarian laugh, at the sight of which Orr's own heart started pounding again.

Yossarian stood up and gave him a sign to move away from the stove and reached out his hand. When Orr took the hand, he shivered again, but he didn't mind at all. Yossarian led him to his bed, where he sat, and patted the space next to himself so Orr would sit there, and so he did. He was giggling the entire time, and he didn't stop even when Yossarian placed both hads on his cheeks and leaned forward, rolling his eyes, until their lips met, awkwardly, effectively shutting Orr up by force. He wrapped his arms around Yossarian's neck, bringing their bodies closer, and placed one leg in Yossarian's lap. They tipped over and slowly fell onto the bed, landing in the soft bedsheets. Yossarian pulled away and looked at Orr's ever-smiling face before kissing his nose and then forehead. He decided to wrap his arms around his torso instead, while Orr's hand ended up on his cheek instead, while he shifted his position to hide his face in Yossarian's chest.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure if he could keep the promise of taking a break, until that moment. He'd never felt safer and, frankly, didn't feel like moving, now or ever.

He would have to, eventually, but he was going to make the most of that moment, considering Yossarian would probably not let him talk about it ever again.


End file.
